LID 11 



SPEECHES 



IN BEHALF OF THE 




UNIVERSITY OF ALBANY, 



Hon. SAM'L B. RTJGGLES, Rev. DUNCAN 

KENNEDY, Hon. AZOR TABER, 

and Rev. RAY PALMER. 









PUBLISHED BY THE 



(Committee of % fjoung MtrCs Association 



CITY OF ALBANY— March, 1852. 



ALBANY: 

CHARLES VAN BENTHUYSEN, PRINTER. 
No. 407, Broadway. 

1852. 



UNIVERSITY OF ALBANY: 

Jh-opcseft Branches of 0tnoti in % Scientific IPcnartmtnt. 



Scientific and Practical Agriculture. — Chemistry, Geology, and Mine- 
ralogy — Zoology and Comparative Anatomy, applicable to Agriculture ; Struc- 
ture, Functions and Diseases of Domestic Animals, and Veterinary Surgery; 
and the Study of Insects in their Relations to Plants ; Rural Architecture and 
Horticulture; Botany, and Diseases of Plants. 

Civil and Mechanical ENGiNEERiNG.-^Including Architecture, the Arts 
of Design; Mathematics, Geology, and Mineralogy, applicable to Engineering 
and Geographical Surveys; also Metallurgy, and the Science and Art of 
Mining. 

The Mechanic Arts. — Natural Philosophy and Mechanical Technology, 
embracing the Applications of the different Motive Powers to Machinery. 

Astronomy, and the Applications of Mathematics, Geometry, Celestial Me* 
chanics, Meteorology, and Navigation and Commerce. 

Chemistry, in its Applications to the Manufacturing and Useful Arts. 
Physical Geography, Political Economy, and History, in its Relations 
to Civilization. 



SPEECHES 



IN BEHALF OF THE 



UNIVERSITY OF ALBANY, 



Hon. SAM'L B. RUGGLES, Rev. DUNCAN 

KENNEDY, Hon. AZOR TABER, 

and Rev. RAY PALMER. 



PUBLISHED BY THE 



Committee of tlje fjoung ittcn's Association 



CITY OF ALBANY— March, 1852. 



ALBANY: 

CHARLES VAN BENTHUYSEN, PRINTER. 
No. 407, Broadway. 

1852. 



kj 



ft i 



Ac: 



The Committee, in presenting to the public, on behalf of the Association, 
this publication, feel both a pride and a pleasure in reminding its numerous 
members of the vastly beneficial results which their united efforts have in times 
past accomplished; and they entertain the confident belief, when the objects 
of the University are rightly understood, and its benefits properly appre- 
ciated, that this and all similar Associations will exert themselves in its 

behalf. 

JAMES I. JOHNSON, 

Maurice E. Viele, Chairman of Committee. 

Secretary. 



* 



SPEECH 



HON. SAMUEL B. RUGGLES, 



IN BEHALF OF 



A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. 



Samuel B. Ruggles, Esq., of the city of New-York, having been 
called on to address the meeting, said in substance as follows : 

It happened to be my fortune, said Mr. Ruggles, fourteen years ago, 
for good or ill, to pass a winter in this Assembly Chamber as one of the 
Representatives of the city of New- York, occupying the place from 
which I now address you'. The undue partiality of the eminent individual 
then presiding over that body had placed me, much against my will, in 
a conspicuous position on one of its committees ; and in that way my 
humble name became accidentally connected with some of the questions 
of Internal Improvement then agitating the public mind. I will only 
claim that I discharged the duty thus imposed upon me as best I coidd — 
that I sought, with feeble but honest endeavor, to advance the highest 
interests of the .State — with what success is not for me to say. Many 
thought my action mischievous — others thought otherwise — and in the 
war of words which sprung up, and for a few years raged with violence, 
my name got mingled in many a " heady fight." I can only hope that 
my participation in the important discussions of the present evening 
may not expose me to similar visitations. 

As there never yet was a War that did not end in Peace at last, so 
the Internal Improvement struggle in this State has found its end, and 
Peace prevails. In the language of a distinguished personage on another 
occasion, " the era of good feeling has arrived." Anti-improvement 



ALBANY UNIVERSITY. 



men have disappeared and cease to exist. "We are all improvement 
men — all determined and desirous, however differing as to the mode or 
degree, to do all we lawfully can for the physical, and, as I trust it will 
be found, for the intellectual improvement of the State. 

These two branches of improvement, though seemingly different, are 
in truth closely connected. The success of the one was indispensable 
to furnish adequate means for the other ; and it is but justice to the 
distinguished individuals with whom I had the honor to act in 1838, 
that one leading aim in their urging forward the public works of the 
State, was not merely to augment its commercial facilities and material 
wealth, but that it had a further, a higher, a better object — the laying 
the foundations, broad and deep, for the most efficient and comprehen- 
sive measures for carrying forward the education of the people. We 
then held, and we yet hold, that public works and public schools are 
alike intended for the good of the whole people, and are alike democratic 
in their object, tendency and effect. 

For, what was the theory in regard to public works ? Was it not 
that they would lessen not only natural but commercial and social 
inequalities ; that they would place the poor by the side of the rich — in- 
ferior districts by the side of the superior ; the agricultural by the side 
of the trading communities ; and, so far as Nature's laws would permit, 
would equalize the condition of all ? 

We hold to a similar theory in regard to education ; and that it is its 
true aim and best effect to raise up the low, the helpless and the down- 
trodden ; — to lessen the inequalities that prevail in the intellectual 
culture and condition of the people — to remove or batter down the 
obstacles that retard the advancement of the sons of poverty and mis- 
fortune, — and to place them side by side, on equal terms, and in fair 
and open competition with the more favored sons of Fortune. 

By a similar analogy we also hold, that in education as in public 
works, in military achievements, and, in truth, in all the great efforts of 
mankind, the secret of success is found in concentrating strength. The 
steam engine, concentrating within itself the strength of hundreds of 
animals and thousands of men, furnishes a single power by which we 
traverse earth and ocean. It does more. It breaks down and obliterates, 
not only commercial, but social distinctions ; for, does it not place in 
the same vessel, and seat side by side in the same vehicle, the high and 



ALBANY UNIVERSITY. 



the low — the lofty and the humble — the lender and the borrower — Dives 
and Lazarus? Does there, can there, exist in nature or art, a truer, an 
honester, a more unterrified democrat, than a Steam Engine ? From 
the moment Steam entered the world, aristocracy was doomed, and the 
final enfranchisement of society from artificial distinctions, absolutely 
and most effectually secured. And what is the whole magnificent series 
and chain of railways, spreading throughout our land and binding every 
part in harmony and union, but one vast democratic machine for equaliz- 
ing the condition of the people ? 

As to the degree of success which has attended our efforts to advance 
the physical improvement of the State, as I have before said, I forbear 
to speak. But I will say that, if ever, under Heaven, actual experi- 
ence established one truth more strongly than another, it is that the 
Canals of New- York have not impoverished the State, nor the people 
of New-York. I cannot trust myself to speak of those if any such 
yet exist, who deny or even doubt the pecuniary value of these noble 
works ; still less of those who would venture, at this late hour, to stig- 
matise, as bankrupt, our glorious commonwealth — except to say, that, 
for all such the necessity of a higher and better education is manifest 
indeed. 

Now, with a community prospering like ours — stretching from the 
ocean to the lakes — its very channel swelled to overflowing with the 
streams of commerce — its opulent and thriving cities — its rich and 
teeming soil — all bound together by a panoply of public works so 
wide-spread and magnificent, and with the most comforting amount of 
eleven hundred millions of assessed value in the pockets of her citizens, 
can she refuse, dare she refuse, to educate her offspring ? What would 
we say to an individual miser, that, after accumulating his million, 
should refuse to send his children to school ? 

But here, just at this very point, we suddenly encounter a school 
of political philosophers, not very numerous — for God be praised, the 
race is nearly extinct — whose great delight it is to proclaim aloud that 
" the world is governed too much" and that government has no right 
to do more than " protect every man in his life, liberty and 'property ', 

AND THERE TO STOP." 

They, therefore, hold broadly and boldly, not only that it is not wise, 
but that it is not lawful for a State to educate its people — that it has no 



ALBANY UNIVERSITY. 



right to found public schools, build public works, endow public chari- 
ties, guard the public health, or in fact to exercise any one of the bene- 
ficent functions, which have so much exalted the character and pro- 
moted the happiness of our people — but that all these objects, no mat- 
ter how large or how important — no matter what amount of concentra- 
ted means or power they may require — may be safely left to the libe- 
rality of individuals. 

Now if this miserable dogma were true, even to its letter, it would 
not be difficult to show that the protection of " property" itself would 
imperiously require ample and extended education, as its only means of 
safety against ignorance, its deadliest enemy. But we descend to no 
such special pleading. We meet the proposition at once in its full 
extent, and deny that any such limitation of the great blessing of 
human government, the greatest of all social blessings, God has bestowed 
upon man, has any foundation or justification in experience, reason or 
authority. We brand and denounce the whole doctrine as mischievous, 
cruel and destructive — the diseased offspring of feeble heads and can- 
kered hearts. Why could we, the people of this great State of New- 
York, — would we, in this day of Christian civilization and expanding 
humanity, merely to gratify a dreary and barren political abstraction, 
depopulate our ten thousand school houses, and all our seats of learn- 
ing, — turn out into the field and forest our eight hundred thousand 
children — empty into the streets all our orphans, all our aged, all our 
helpless — cast forth into outer darkness all our sick, all our insane, and 
fill our whole land with lamentation and wailing ? Would we, could 
we, in the face of all our swelling commerce, dry up all our noble chan- 
nels of intercourse, tear up all our railways, root out all our aqueducts, 
and throw down all the monuments of energy and perseverence, which 
have made our favored commonwealth the admiration of the civilized 
world ? If it were for a moment possible that a State like ours, 
the very parent of American progress, with all its vast responsibilities 
to the present and the future and to all around — standing foremost in 
the National Union — holding the very gates between the Old World 
and the New, between all the East and all the West, could consent to 
be thus vilely mutilated, thus shorn of all its manhood and all its crea- 
tive eneroy — that cold blooded theorists could thus be permitted, like 
unclean birds, to pick off all its flesh and features, leaving oiily the 



ALBANY UNIVERSITY 



naked skeleton of a State b.diind, — letter were it blotted out forever 
from the family of civilized nations, and stand no longer a lifeless 
spectacle to disgust and shock mankind. For one I am willing to leave 
all such theorists and all such vagaries to the clear, calm, good sense 
of our intelligent people. 

I have said that the true element of modern success in works of 
physical improvement has been found in the concentration of strength, 
and that the same may hold true in our scientific organizations. Gov- 
erned by this cardinal idea, the friends of the proposed University, and 
who have for their eventual aim the establishment of a great institution 
which shall exert its influence not only within this State but far beyond 
it, have proposed to unite and combine in one mass, a body of learned 
men, far exceeding in number and strength anything that has yet been 
presented to the American world. The list of the eminent individuals, 
upwards of twenty in number, is now before you, containing names 
unsurpassed in scientific reputation, and worthy the great task they have 
attempted. Their preeminent merits are known and admitted where- 
ever learning is honored at all. The departments committed to their 
care will embrace every variety and subdivision of literature and 
science. 

It is then, this unequalled variety, this unprecedented combination of 
intellectual strength, which is to impart to the University its distin- 
guishing characteristic Here the pupil of every taste and aim can 
select the subject which he wishes to study and pursue, each and all^to 
any extent he may desire. Without intending, in any way, to question 
the usefulness of our existing colleges— for they will always remain 
most valuable portions of our educational system— it may be safely 
claimed that they lack the elements of variety, combination and extent 
presented by the present plan. For those who would pursue a general, 
and, so to speak, an elementary coarse of classical and mathematical study, 
the present colleges will, doubtless, prove amply sufficient. But foul- 
er five professors, however erudite or accomplished, aided only by two 
or three youthful tutors, can hardly come up to the varied demands of 
the aee. It requires something broader and more diversified — some- 
thing more capable of assisting the student to pursue special depart- 
ments of knowledge to their extremest limits, and perfect himself in the 
practical applications of science. This we could not reasonably expect 



ALBANY UNIVERSITY. 



from a system like that of the colleges, which are obliged to provide 
one common course of broad, fundamental culture, which may be 
enforced upon all, and at the same time be so elementary and so limited 
in the number of subjects, that all may be crowded into three or four 
years. 

Not being in any sense a man of science myself, and knowing little 
else than my duty to hold it in the highest respect, it is with unaffected 
diffidence that I venture to speak on such a subject and in the presence 
of men like those around me. But these men of learning have now 
brought their cause before us, the people, and it is needful for us to 
know at least our own necessities. Of some things, however, even as 
laymen, we may be sure. We may assume at once that the science 
existing at the present day, is vastly amplified in all its parts from that 
which was taught in the days of our fathers. Indeed, it is so enlarged, 
so transformed, that those of us who left the college walls for active 
life some thirty years ago, find ourselves in quite another world — unable 
to comprehend its vocabulary, still less its general outline and features. 
In these same thirty years, in which our young republic has pushed 
out its boundaries till they embrace the whole continental expanse from 
ocean to ocean, Science with equal ardor and equal vigor has enlarged 
its territories till it spreads its wide domain throughout the Earth and 
the Heavens. Not to speak of the widely extended researches of the 
analytic-alchemist — not to advert to the sublime discoveries of the geolo- 
gist, disentombing and bringing bodily out to attest and record the 
chronology of the great globe itself, the millions of long buried wit- 
nesses, slumbering in stony beds and in more than Egyptian darkness 
during millions of centuries — not to follow the microscope, descending 
deeper and ever deeper into the minutest subdivisions of created things, 
and finding all, from the depths of the deepest oceans to the peaks of 
the loftiest mountains, filled not only with organized beings, instinct 
with present life, but innumerable multitudes of the microscopic tenants 
of our earth in its most remote geological ages, — have we not seen the 
telescope, with the vast augmentation of its power during these thirty 
years, pushing far out beyond the solar system, ascending into the 
countless systems and series of systems of the stellar worlds — unfixing 
the fixed stars themselves, and tracing their wanderings through the 
sublimes t fields of time and space ? Nay more, is not the upturned 



ALBANY UNIVERSITY. 9 



eye of the awe-struck astronomer even now, at this very moment, with 
that same telescope of these modern clays, penetrating through the tan- 
gled wilderness of suns and stars, and piercing deeper and deeper into 
the vast abysses of the universe, detecting infant, new-born worlds, in 
the very act of coming into being ? And yet all this science, disclo- 
sing truths thus august, achieving discoveries thus sublime, comes down 
daily with its homely and practical application to the ever-varying wants 
and necessities of Man. Never at any former period in human history 
have its useful applications been so constant, so valuable and so numerous. 
Not only has it gladdened all earth and man by its applied results, but 
it has extracted new powers from elemental nature and delivered them 
over to the service of our race. The ruder, the grosser, the more pal- 
pable mechanical powers which had sufficed since the earliest antiquity 
for our use — even the great and all-pervading power of gravitation 
itself are, one and all, superseded by a band of laborers, snatched from 
the Heavens, brought down and subjugated, and made to toil as the 
slaves of man. For was it not reserved for our day and generation to 
witness the crowning achievement of science — its brilliant and matchless 
victory over the imponderable agents of Nature ? — agents so ethereal, 
so delicate, so evanescent, — and yet so faithful, so efficient, so untiring ? 

And when did Man ever possess a better set of servants ? Is there 
any office or any use, however exalted or however humble, to which 
these heaven-born agents are not applied? Are they, indeed, the com- 
panions only of the learned philosopher, the curious student ? Does 
not that same vivid, electric fluid which carries on its wings Thought, 
Eloquence and Genius, condescend to enter the shop of the plodding 
artizan, and actually plate the very tea-pot on his table ? And is not 
light, polarized light — so exquisitely analyzed as to detect the occult 
laws of the far distant stellar worlds — placed by the philosopher in the 
hands of the lowly sugar- boiler, that he may send it in as one of his 
daily workmen to watch Nature herself in her most secret process of 
crystallization ? Do we not discover at every step, and in every direc- 
tion, increasing proofs of the hidden harmonies of the Sciences them- 
selves — their indissoluble connection each with all, and the necessity, 
the indispensable necessity, of all to the service of their master, Man ? 

The question, then, for an intelligent community Uke ours, willing, 

2 



10 ALBANY UNIVERSITY. 



at least, to benefit its material condition is this — Shall science, so exalting 
and yet so useful— -so sublime, yet so humble, be monopolised by the 
learned few who chance to be the first to seize it, or shall it belong to 
all the people, and be distributed in the largest and most liberal measure 
among all alike ? We think they can give but one answer. We think 
they will claim, as they may lawfully claim, the same inherent, pri- 
mary, fundamental right to knowledge, which they claim to liberty 
itself; and will take due care that nothing shall stand in the way of 
their acquiring this, their greatest treasure. We believe them sufficiently 
sagacious to see and know that it is not the end nor aim, nor effect 
of knowledge 'to rear an aristocracy, or elevate a race of scholars 
above or beyond the people — that, on the contrary, they will see and 
know, because it is true, that knowledge will be made democratic, by 
being extended equally and liberally to all who will seek it — and that 
they will also see and know that it is the very spirit and essence 
of our plan, to draw our pupils from the people, that they may return 
instructed to the people, and themselves become active agents in 
improving and elevating all around them. 

The objection, therefore, that we begin by strengthening the summit 
instead of the base of our educational edifice, is not well founded. 
On the contrary, we strive to improve both base and summit, and 
in such mode as best may strengthen both. 

But we may be told that the education now furnished to the 
people in the Common Schools, is quite sufficient for their purposes. 
As well might it be claimed that the common roads of the country 
are adequate to all the travel and transportation of the State. Do 
not those common roads now owe at least a portion of their value to 
their connection with the great commercial arteries of the State ? 
And so with these secluded schools. Will they not feel the beneficial 
influence of easy access and constant intercourse with the central 
institution? Through such channels the people will receive streams 
of knowledge that will render them rich indeed. It is this golden 
bond of connection, this ceaseless flux and reflux, which constitutes 
one of the most effective portions of the plan proposed. 

We plant ourselves, then, by the side of the people, and from that 
position we will not be driven. They shall see and know our aim — 
that we seek, by imparting to them the invaluable wealth of a sound 



ALBANY UNIVERSITY. 11 



education, to furnish them the means of advancing their social con- 
dition, of enlarging their individual power and influence, refining and 
elevating their pursuits and enjoyments, increasing in every way their 
efficiency and value, and may we not add, without irreverence, fitting 
them in some small degree for that future Heaven of Intelligence 
we all hope in time to reach ? 

A good example of an institution like that we propose, made for the 
people, and composed of pupils coming from the people, is furnished by 
what was once our sister republic of France. It was among the earliest 
results of the downfall of the Royal power in 1792. The Polytechnic — 
then called the Central School of Paris, was born and baptised in blood 
and slaughter, amid the most frightful spasms of the revolution. But 
it contained the one vital, all-important, all-preserving element of pupils 
collected by fair, free, open competition among all the people. France 
had possessed for centuries other colleges for the favored sons of rank 
and wealth ; but this was the college of the people — the first fruits of 
their new-born liberty. So uniformly and inflexibly just has been its 
administration — so strict ' the impartiality of its examinations — that 
during the reign of Louis Phillippe, his son, the Puke d'Amaule, sought 
in vain to obtain admission. He entered into the competition, but was 
defeated by some other son of France, not of royal blood, but of superior 
merit. Need we say that the school has stood impregnable from the 
hour of its foundation to the present ? — defying every attempt of every 
successive government, the Pirectory — the Consulate — the Empire — the 
Restoration — the second Republic — and even the present Usurpation, 
to destroy it ? 

Has that institution ever proved itself a nursery of aristocrats? 
Sending out from its body the most distinguished individuals that 
French science can boast, has it ever been found on the side of arbitrary 
power? Let its gallant resistance to tyranny during the Three Pays 
of 1830, and its recent indignant refusal to vote for the despot whose 
power had overawed all else in France, answer the question. Rely 
upon it, my friends, like elements on this side of the Atlantic will 
exhibit like results ; and these pupils of our University — these chosen 
sons of the people and the State — will ever be found, in unbroken 
phalanx, champions alike of democratic equality and of well regulated 
law and order. 



12 ALBANY UNIVERSITY. 



On one or two points, then, let us be understood, for they are essential. 
In collecting together this great mass of literary and scientific talent, 
which is to attract to itself, with resistless force, the pupils who can best 
profit by its instruction, it is not our aim to establish a College, in any 
sense in which that term can properly be understood. On the con- 
trary, the selection of studies will be entirely free and voluntary, 
according to the particular tastes, aims and objects in life of each pupil, 
subject only to such reasonable regulations as shall secure adequate 
attention to the departments he may select. No pupil will be compelled 
to " dig out G-reek roots," to use the sneering phrase of those who 
decry the classics, nor any roots of any tongue, or any sort, unless his 
own good sense should lead him to the task. But the pupils will all go 
up as to a great magazine, where knowledge — scientific, literary, prac- 
tical knowledge — will be supplied in amplest measure, and where all 
who hunger may feed and be filled. 

The standard, therefore, of admission need not be very high, but may 
always be kept low enough, for pupils with such elementary education 
as our common schools can afford. The far-famed and most excellent 
Academy at West Point, requires scarcely more than the humblest 
rudiments taught in our common schools — little more, indeed, than 
reading, writing and spelling, and does not always get the best even of 
that. There is not in this State a common school so poor that it cannot 
prepare a boy to surpass that standard of admission. Surely the young 
sons of New- York — cultivated New- York — can attain the same level 
which candidates for that academy, from the remote States on our 
Western frontier, find no difficulty in reaching. 

But in one very essential particular, the State pupils of the University, 
as a body, may, and probably will, far surpass those at West Point. 
Instead of being selected, as in that institution, by the members of 
Congress, from each Congressional district, sometimes most carelessly 
and improperly, and too often through personal or political favoritism, — 
and subjected to no competition or even examination as to their personal, 
moral or intellectual fitness, — our own State pupils in the University 
will be chosen only after Ml, open aud public competition, under the 
very eye of the public, each in his own Assembly district, and subject 
to the judgment of competent and impartial examiners, to be elected by 
the people themselves. In the one case, the youths selected will be the 



ALBANY UNIVERSITY. 13 



very flower of the State. In the other, they must be merely the types, 
the representatives, of the Congressmen who select them. As might 
be expected, some are pre-eminently excellent — others of more moderate 
merit — and some most particularly poor. It is true that this mischief 
is only temporary in its effects. The unrivalled discipline of that 
noble institution, with its learned and accomplished academic board, soon 
roots out and expels the imperfect material, but were it not better that 
all should be perfect in the first instance ? Even with that evil, — and 
there is really no cure for it, unless by some great dispensation of 
Providence, the sifting operation to which the cadets are thus subjected, 
could also be performed on the Congress itself — even with graduating 
classes, necessarily reduced to little more than half their original num- 
ber, does not the whole country know what a flood, not only of military 
talent, but of other public usefulness of the highest order, has been 
poured out within the last thirty years from the walls of that institution ? 
Now, will any one contend that our people would feel no interest — 
would take no pride in a similar institution, established within our own 
State and under its own supervision ? President Fillmore has, at the 
present moment, lying on his table, fifteen hundred applications for the 
ten only vacancies at West Point within his gift. If there was one 
vacancy for each of the one hundred and twenty-eight Assembly districts 
of this State, would it not be sought for with the utmost avidity ? Rely 
upon it, if our proposed measure could be submitted to the people, it 
would at least receive the enthusiastic support of all the 1 2,000 school 
teachers in the State, and of all the 400,000 youths under their charge, 
if it did not enlist all their fathers and all their brothers ; and is there 
a mother or sister in the whole length and breadth of our territory, that 
would not at once cheer on and animate her youthful son or brother in 
the competition ? The very preparation for that competition — the 
struggle itself — would operate, to a fair extent, to educate even the 
unsuccessful competitors. The holding up of such a prize would at 
once excite an increased appetite for study, not only in the midst of 
crowded and bustling cities, but in the loneliest and most secluded of 
our rural districts. In the felicitous language of a friend, whose clear 
judgment and honest heart are deeply interested in this cause, it would 
"pass a magnet over our whole community," — drawing out from dark 
and hidden places, and bringing into the cheerful light of day, hundreds, 



14 ALBANY UNIVERSITY. 



nay thousands, of our best and brightest spirits, now struggling, per- 
chance, with penury and adverse fate, but needing only this timely and 
parental aid to stand forth erect, and side by side, with their more 
favored brethren. From the ocean to the lakes — from the seagirt coast 
of Suffolk to the blue waters of St. Lawrence — it would fill our whole 
commonwealth with gladness and rejoicing. The pure lamp of Science, 
kept brightly burning in the University, would send forth its illumina- 
tion into the most benighted regions, while the local districts, each and 
all, would glow with the generous emulation of the young aspirants for 
the high distinction, and which they could not fail to feel through all 
their after lives, of having fairly won the honors of the State. Let 
Antiquity point, if it will, to its Olympic games, or the struggles of the 
Amphitheatre, — we will show the world a grander, a more soul-inspiring 
spectacle, — a State with its hundred fields, all animated and vivified by 
its youthful combatants, struggling in intellectual conflict. 

The influence of such an institution, in elevating the standing and 
relative importance of our State in the National Union, also deserves 
the profound attention of our public men. With a nucleus of a hundred 
and twenty-eight pupils, such as we have described, all improved by 
mutual contact, — with such a healthful germ of life, the University 
would have no infancy, — it would start at once into full and vigorous 
action. Hundreds and thousands of additional students would speedily 
flock in from our own and the surrounding States, attracted by its 
success and the unrivalled strength of its organization. Other States, 
willing also to aid their youth, might, and probably would, be induced 
to follow our democratic lead, and use this University for that purpose, 
until the extending intellectual culture of the country should allow each 
separate State to secure, what no other State than ours can now secure, 
the combination of such a mass of scientific strength. Without being 
a National University in name, it would become one in fact, with the 
great superadded advantage of being free from the caprices of National 
Legislation or federal supervision. We need no subsidy from the coffers 
of the Union, nor the overshadowing influence of any of its dignitaries. 
We ask no foreign aid. In population and pecuniary resources, our 
State already exceeds Holland, Sweden, and the portions of Italy most 
famous for their seats of learning. Would that we could say as much 
for our intellectual wealth ! 



ALBANY UNIVERSITY. 15 

And now, my democratic friends, we are about to tread upon what we 
are told is dangerous ground ; but we do not think it so. We intend 
fco urge the establishment of this University for the express purpose of 
elevating and purifying the popular taste ; for we are yet to learn that 
a democrat has no head to comprehend, nor heart to feel all that is 
chaste in design, correct in execution, or beautiful in form, color, or 
proportion. That demagogues may sneer at these refining influences, 
We are well aware, ---and many a ribald jest will be aimed at him who 
would venture to weave a single thread of poetry, fancy or feeling into 
the coarse drapery of daily life. And yet we might ask if there really 
is anything in the stuff of which an American democrat is made, which 
disqualifies him from enjoying what delighted the democrat of Athens, 
the peasant of Italy or the boor or burgher of Holland ? Classic Italy 
was also philosophical, mechanical, commercial Italy. The land of 
Virgil and Raphael produced Gallileo to scale the Heavens, and Colum- 
bus too, to find the very world we live in, and Volta, to build the 
galvanic pile which spreads its tendrils over all our daily life. And 
Leonardo da Vinci, whose magic and immortal pencil delights all 
mankind with its grace and dignity and tenderness and beauty — did not 
that same Leonardo also build the largest and the best canal in his 
native land ? And need his example be wholly lost even upon canal 
building, railroad building, democratic New- York? Have we indeed 
accomplished all, in connecting the ocean with the lakes ? 

AVhat constitutes a State ? 
Not high raised battlements or labored mound, 

Thick wall or moated gate ; 
Not cities proud, with spires and turrets crowned ; 

Not bays and broad armed porU : 
No! Men, high-minded Men! 

Here, then, at last we find our truest, our richest treasures — Men — 
living, vigorous, intelligent, creative Men, standing thick around us, 
dawning bright in early youth, sons of our love, inheritors of our names, 
the only foundation of our fixture hopes. 

Fathers of New- York ! will you not at once come forward, and carry 
forward and onward these youths in the great path of duty which lies 
before them? Our race is nearly run, but to them we must leave a 
whole continent to try their powers. Upon its magnificent area their 
energy must erect millions of edifices, subdue millions of stubborn 
fields. Mountains and rivers, befitting such a continent, intervene 



16 ALBANY UNIVERSITY. 



between the two great oceans which it is theirs to subjugate. In this, 
their great battle of life, amid all its lights and shadows, shall not our 
hearts go with them ? Will they not need all the aids that science can 
impart — all the taste that art can teach — all the solace that letters can 
bestow ? 

But let us come down to more precise details. What do we ask of 
the State, and what will it cost ? 

Let us first state what we do not ask. We do not ask nor wish the 
State to erect buildings of any description, — nor found professorships, — 
nor purchase scientific collections, — nor a library, — nor any of the 
apparatus of a college, — for all these are provided by the liberality of 
the citizens of Albany, who have been incorporated for the purpose. 

Nor do we ask, or wish the State to appoint professors or any officers 
whatever, in or about the University, — nor to exercise any power which 
may involve it in the fluctuations or excitements of party strife. 

But we do ask of the State, to allow the people of each of the one 
hundred and twenty-eight Assembly districts, at regular periods, to 
elect two competent, impartial examiners, and in such mode as to be 
secure from political bias — and that those examiners shall respectively 
select from such district, and, after a fair, full, and open public com- 
petition, at least one pupil, to be sent to the University for such period 
as may be fixed by law, and not leS3 than two years — and that during 
that period, such pupil shall be supported at the expense of the State. 
We have reason to believe that the yearly cost of such support, inclu- 
ding tuition, will not exceed two hundred dollars, — making $25,600 
annually. 

The great advantage of the plan is, that it will not involve the State 
in any necessity for permanent appropriations. They can discontinue 
the system the moment they find it unsuccessful. 

The question, then, is brought down to this, — can the State afford to 
try the experiment for a single year, and thus provide for one pupil 
from each district ? It has expended nearly forty millions of dollars, 
in opening its channels of commerce, not to mention the eighty millions 
in addition, expended by incorporated companies. It possesses, more- 
over, pecuniary funds of about seven millions of dollars, the interest of 
which it devotes to the support and improvement of Common Schools, 
Academies and Colleges. 



ALBANY UNIVERSITY. 17 



Cannot such a community afford to expend twenty-five thousand 
six hundred dollars yearly for an object like that we point out, so 
beneficent, so equal, so truly democratic ? Will the burthen it would 
impose be so very grievous ? Let us look at it and measure it, not in 
dollars — for it will not be measured in dollars — but in cents. 

The total assessed taxable value of the real and personal property of 
the State is eleven hundred millions of dollars. Its real value cannot 
be less than two thousand millions, and its annual increase alone, 
through its natural and irresistible progress in population and wealth, 
cannot be less than fifty millions. This immense amount is so divided 
among its very numerous proprietors, that the annual burthen of 
$25,600 would hardly be perceived, and certainly could not occasion 
any very serious suffering or discontent. Calling ourselves worth only 
one thousand millions, the dreaded burthen would annually amount to 
one fortieth of one mill on the dollar ; that is to say, a farm, a house, 
a, manufactory, or bank stock valued at ten thousand dollars, would 
pay just twenty-five cents! 

Now we will not, and we do not believe that one man can be found 
in this whole State, from Montauk to Buffalo, who has the good fortune 
to possess $10,000, that will refuse to contribute those twenty-five cents; 
but on the contrary, that the moment the admirable effects of the 
University should be exhibited in its actual working, he would insist on 
doubling, if not quadrupling the amount, and with it the corresponding 
number of pupils from each of the Assembly Districts. We do not 
believe that many men could be found to think even a dollar too much 
for the luxury of seeing five hundred and twelve youths, each containing 
within himself all the noblest elements of a Man, rescued from penury 
and wretchedness, placed on a level with his fellows, and brought out 
into open day to exert for the good of his species, the faculties which 
God had given him. 

For who shall count in cents, or even dollars, the value of a Man ? 
Who shall say that among the hundreds and thousands of students thus 
snatched from poverty, the University may not foster into life some 
second Newton, or Watt, or Milton, or Shakspeare? Who would not 
give the price of a year's support for a living Fulton, or a Raphael ? 

We further contend that no State, and especially no working State 

3 



18 ALBANY UNIVERSITY. 



like ours, can afford that any one of its people shall needlessly be 
deprived of any of his natural powers, or that those powers shall be 
lost through want of proper culture and development — and that in a 
merely economical view, the State suffers positive pecuniary loss, when 
any useful faculty is thus needlessly neglected or suffered to lie 
dormant. 

And it was in this light that the prudent and calculating, but 
sagacious Dutchmen, ancestors of those who founded this same goodly 
city of Albany on which we are now standing, viewed this matter. It 
was in Holland, — economical, industrious, thrifty, liberty-loving Hol- 
land, — that learning was most highly valued. It was amid the sunken 
fens and marshes of the Rhine and the Vecht, holding fearful and 
unequal conflict with the ocean, that the hardy burghers, — who sent 
forth the Rhinelanders and the Van Vechtens to carry the virtues of 
their parent land into another hemisphere,— founded the cities where 
science loved to dwell. In the early days of their republic, while 
battling with the whole power of the Spanish crown, it fell to the doom 
of the city of Leyden, — heroic Leyden, — to struggle for their new-born 
liberty, through a siege attended by slaughter, and famine, and all the 
superadded sufferings and horrors which cruelty could inflict or courage 
endure. And what was the magnanimous, the magnificent answer of 
these gallant but far-seeing Dutchmen to their grateful Stadtholder, 
when he proffered to them Exemption from Taxation, as a reward for 
their matchless constancy and valor? Like their descendants, they 
loved their guilders, but they rejected the proffered boon, and, with a 
love of letters only exceeded by their love of country, to a man they 
exclaimed, " Give us a University /" And thus the great University 
of Leyden came into the world, where for centuries it has stood, and 
still stands, the proudest monument of Dutch courage and Dutch 
intelligence. From its ancient and honored halls, hosts of illustrious 
men have gone forth to benefit and bless mankind. Need we do more 
than name Grotius, the jurist, — whose exalted equity and transcendant 
genius, curbing the violence of war, has given law to Nations, — or 
Boerhave, the physician, whose world-wide fame, spreading far beyond 
the uttermost limits of Christendom, brought mighty potentates from 
distant Asia, to acknowledge his consummate, his unequalled skill ? 

My friends, let not such examples be lost. Let the world see, that 



ALBANY UNIVERSITY. 19 



we, too, like brave old Leyden, can look ahead, — can discern through 
coming centuries what vast effects may flow from forecast and energy, 
wisely directed. Some of us are passing, others have passed the bright 
meridian of life. Must we therefore close our eyes on all around ? 
What if the noon-day cloud or evening shadow have fallen on some of 
us, let us remember that we are to live onward and onward, through 
our children and our children's children forever. Let us plant the tree, 
that they may see the flower, — may gather its rich and ripening fruit. 
Heaven has cast our favored lot in the early morning of our national 
existence, — let us, in grateful remembrance, hand down to our descend- 
ants proofs of our wise and provident regard, in institutions deeply 
engrafted upon the best affections of the people, and which shall 
brighten and adorn the coming days of our Bepublit, — great and 
enduring seats of science, where learning and liberty, knowledge and 
virtue shall flourish, side by side, with law and order, in ever increasing 
vigor, to the latest moment of recorded Time. 



SPEECH 



REV. DR. KENNEDY, 

IN BEHALF OP THE 

UNIVERSITY OF ALBANY. 



Mr. Chairman : — We have met on several occasions before this, to 
confer in regard to the enterprise which is to engage our attention 
again this evening. Many valuable suggestions have been submitted 
by gentlemen, far better qualified to give wise and salutary counsels, 
than I profess to be. I do not expect, therefore, to offer anything new 
upon the subject ; and I rise rather to give expression to the deep in- 
terest I cherish in the object proposed, than with the hope of saying 
anything that will contribute to its advancement. 

It seems to me, that the first question which presents itself to our 
consideration is, whether there be a real demand for such an institution. 
Is there that in the condition of things among us, — in this State and in 
the country at large, which renders such an institution necessary and 
desirable? It is important that this question should be fairly met and 
definitely solved, before we engage ourselves, or consent to ask others 
to engage in such an enterprise. Unless the demand can be shown to 
be real and imperative, we can not, and ought not to expect success. 
We are called a practical people, — not much given to theories and specu- 
lations. This I do not regret. We are also said to be deeply imbued 
with a utilitarian spirit, and hence men are ever ready to ask, when 
called upon to invest their capital or lend their influence for the promo- 
tion of any object, what are the returns that maybe reasonably counted 
on? To a certain extent, this also is right, and we ought to be able to 



ALBANY UNIVERSITY. 21 



give a satisfactory answer, before we solicit the public to favor our 
views. Now, sir, I do not profess to be expert in calculations about 
dollars and cents. It has never been my fortune — good or bad — to be 
troubled with any considerable amount of that commodity, nor has my 
calling been such as to make me an adept in the arithmetic of gold and 
silver ; but there are others, thoroughly versed in such calculations, 
who have expressed their convictions freely and clearly in favor of the 
proposed enterprise of a National University. They favor it upon the 
ground of the pecuniary advantages that are to accrue from it. Gen- 
tlemen engaged in the various business departments of life, in the habit 
of calculating closely in regard to all kinds of investments — whether 
bank, railroad, canal, or steamboat stocks, have pronounced upon the 
necessity of such an institution to promote our financial interests, and 
have unhesitatingly affirmed, thai its legitimate returns will put a thou- 
sand fold its own cost, into the coffers of the State and country. I 
believe it, not because I can demonstrate the fact myself, but because 
men of intelligence, judgment and integrity have said so. They have 
looked closely at the value of such an institution in developing the 
resources of the country, have calculated the results with deliberation 
and care, and have zealously committed themselves to advance the 
enterprise. 

But I am more disposed to look at the intellectual relations of this 
subject, and in view of these, to ask whether there is a demand for such 
an institution as is contemplated. And in my opinion, sir, such a 
demand clearly exists. It must be obvious to every one who has bestowed 
any thought upon the matter, that the present grade of our existing 
institutions of learning, does not meet the necessities of the age and 
country. I am the last one to speak disparagingly of any of our col- 
leges, or other educational schools. They are all good, and in my 
judgment, are accomplishing all they are fitted to accomplish, and are 
answering the ends for which they were established. And it is by no 
means derogatory to them to say, that there are existing exigencies 
at this day, which they cannot meet ; there are pressing wants which 
they cannot supply. Hence the necessity for an institution of a different 
character from any now existing. 

When a young man graduates at one of our colleges — from the very 
best of them — he is not distinguished for his acquaintance with any 



22 ALBANY UNIVERSITY, 



one department of science whatever. He can not be. Indeed he is 
not expected to be. When he enters college he is compelled to engage 
in a great variety of studies. He is to engage in the study of lan- 
guages — dead and living — while the whole circle of science is to occupy 
a share of his attention. How is it possible, that in the space of three 
or four years, he should become proficient in the various departments 
which thus engage his energies ? The truth is,that when he graduates, 
he has received only the rudiments of a perfect education ; he has a 
smattering of everything, but is master of nothing ; and this without 
any fault on his part, and without any reproach to his Alma Mater. 
Everything connected with his educational course has, by necessity, 
been so arranged, that the result cannot be otherwise. Hence, when 
he leaves the institution, he is not fitted to engage, with intelligence, 
in many of the most ordinary pursuits of life : he is not qualified to 
become a farmer : he knows but little of Chemistry : he can neither 
analyze soils, nor determine what qualities of soil are best adapted to 
the different kinds of grain : he is not qualified to be an intelligent 
miner, and extract from the bowels of the earth, the treasures which 
nature has there deposited for his use. The relative value of ores has 
never engaged his attention, and of the process of smelting and 
amalgamation he is utterly ignorant. There is not one of the mechanic 
arts with which he has any better acquaintance. The truth is, there is 
not, under ordinary circumstances, a single department of art or science, 
of which he is master. He is, at best, after he has graduated, only 
ready to commence the study of that branch or department of general 
science, which he designs to make the object of his special pursuit in 
life. Hence the necessity of an institution that can receive him at this 
point, that can aid him and perfect him in the department of learning 
to which he has resolved to devote his energies. If he make choice of 
the law, there are institutions of law which he may enter ; if he desire 
the practice of the healing art, there are medical schools where to 
receive instruction ; if he intend to be a theologian, there are theologi- 
cal seminaries open to receive him ; but if he make choiee of some 
department of natural science, be it Agriculture, Chemistry, Botany, 
Geology, Navigation, or Astronomy, or any kindred department, there 
is not within the limits of the entire country, a single institution com- 
petent to benefit him. He looks in vain for those facilities and 



ALBANY UNIVERSITY. 23 

appliances that are essential to meet the exigencies of his condition, 
and the result is, that he must either abandon the object of his aspira- 
tions, or seek its ultimate acorn plishnient by resorting to a foreign 
country. Sir, this ought not so to be. During the earlier periods of our 
history, there was an apology for this deficiency. We were poor, and 
all our efforts had to be directed to the development of our physical 
resources. But we are poor no longer, and wc should now begin to 
regard our mental improvement. 

I have sometimes thought, that a young man in the circumstances I 
have described, was like a traveller in Switzerland. He has come a 
long journey to see Mont Blanc ; not only to see it, but ascend to its 
summit. He has already visited neighboring mountains and cliffs, and 
these he may have ascended alone ; but now he aspires to something 
higher — to engage in a bolder enterprise — to plant his foot upon the 
hoary crown of the monarch of mountains. But though he had ascended 
other heights alone, or with moderate assistance, he now finds that 
alone he can accomplish nothing- — that he must have guides, men of 
tried courage, of strong nerve — enterprising and experienced, who are 
able to bear him over deep gulfs, and lead him along dizzy precipices, 
and help him to scale perpendicular eminences. By the help of these, 
he will ascend step by step, rising higher and higher, till at length his 
toil is rewarded with success, and he stands exultingly amid the glory 
that crowns the summit. 

Now, sir, there is a Mont Blanc in the intellectual, as well as in the 
physical world ; it is found in America as well as in Europe ; and there 
are multitudes of young men, vigorous and ardent, panting to ascend 
its highest summit. They come to its base from every section of the 
country, from the college, the academy, the common school. Among 
them are the farmer, the mechanic, the artizan of every grade, the 
votaries of every department of science, the rich and the poor, all 
animated by one controlling impulse — to ascend ! They have visited 
other intellectual heights, it is true, but this has only served to strengthen 
their desire to reach a still higher point of observation. But they find 
they must now have guides, for they can accomplish little or nothing 
alone. Where are they to find men of intellectual stature, bold, enter- 
prising, experienced to lead them successfully onward and upward ? 
There are such guides in the country, it is true ; but they are scattered 



24 ALBANY UNIVERSITY - . 



about and found at points distant from each other; and in these circum- 
stances, they can accomplish little or nothing for the throngs that need 
their assistance. They must then be brought together in one place: 
they must combine their energies, unite their efforts, concentrate their 
powers. Then only can they act efficiently, and render their individual 
qualifications essentially serviceable. This is the demand that now 
exists — the demand that we propose to meet, and which can be met 
only by the establishment of the proposed National University. 

But farther, the character of our political institutions obviously 
requires that greater facilities for proficiency in the higher departments 
of education, should be amply furnished. These institutions rest upon 
the fundamental principle, that all men are born equal. This princi- 
ple is indigenous to the soil of freedom. It is with us, practically, an 
original one, and in its legitimate operation, it constitutes every person — 
so far as human agency is concerned — the arbitrer of his own fortune ; 
it places all upon a level, and gives to all an equal chance. Distinction 
here, is not made to depend upon contingencies of location or birth. 
Fortune indulges in none of those fantastic freaks, by which the brow 
of one, however low and contracted, is encircled with a crown, to which 
another, however lofty and expanded, is doomed to bow in reverence: 
we have no feudal institutions with their servile enactments ; no privi- 
leged orders claiming the prerogative to trample upon the rights of 
subservient masses ; no nobility but the nobility of worth ; no King 
but the " King of Kings." The American Lord is one who depends 
upon a higher distinction than a hereditary title ; his name is to be 
found in nature's own peerage, and he carries his patent of nobility in 
his heart. These, sir, are glorious features, deeply enstamped upon 
the character of our institutions. Let us more distinctly recognise 
these features, and more thoroughly and practically honor them, by 
opening the way to intellectual eminence equally to all, by furnishing 
ample facilities to all who aspire to become great and useful. Let 
intellect alone be made the secret of success, well balanced, well 
cultivated, and directed with persevering energy, to the accom- 
plishment of noble objects. As we have no moneyed aristocracy 
in this country — because wealth is so generally diffused among all 
classes of the people — it becomes a prime consideration with every 
person engaged in the productive pursuits of life, how to accomplish 



ALBANY UNIVERSITY. 26 

the greatest amount of labor with the smallest amount of capital. 
Hence it is, that mechanical genius and agricultural science become 
so important to us ; and these should ever be most highly prized. 
The native strength and richness of our soil is diminished by constant 
cultivation. The farmer has now something more to do than simply to 
break up the earth and cast in the seed— he has to restore the exhaust- 
ed energy of the ground he cultivates, to supply the elements that have 
been abstracted by defective culture, and for the want of which his 
land will fail to give an adequate return for his labor and toil. This 
creates a necessity for agricultural science. The farmer can no longer 
remain ignorant of those interesting laws which are so intimately 
connected with his ancient and honorable pursuits as " tiller of the 
ground" with impunity. The time has come when he must understand 
his business, and be able to give a reason for what he does. The field 
will retaliate his neglect or abuse, by withholding the rich products 
which he might otherwise secure ; and the sterile aspect of many a 
farm in the older portions of the country — once rich and productive — 
furnishes a proof, both of the violence which has been offered to 
nature, and the retributive vengeance with which she resents the. abuse 
of her generous prerogatives. This demand for mechanical skill, for 
an intimate acquaintance with the laws and resources of nature, and 
the plain instructions of a rational and practical philosophy, is increasing 
upon us every year and every day. It is our duty to meet it. We 
must meet it in order to secure increasing and permanent prosperity. 
We should encourage the desire and furnish the means by which to 
gratify the aspirations of those who wish to be master of whatever 
pursuit or calling in life they may choose to select. 

But, sir, there is another consideration which makes a demand for 
the establishment of a National University. There is a native energy 
peculiar to American character, which, it seems to me, calls most 
distinctly for the means of a far greater development than have yet 
been furnished. As a nation, we are as yet in our infancy, and hitherto 
we have labored under many disadvantages. Still we have accom- 
plished much — we have accomplished wonders ! Not, however, by 
reason of peculiar facilities enjoyed, for in means and instrumentalities, 
we have, to a great extent, been strikingly deficient ; but by reason of 

4 



28 ALBANY UNIVERSITY. 



the indomitable energy of our national character. Though we may 
be deficient in many things which are supposed to constitute the charm 
of ancient institutions ; though we have no fabulous origin dating 
back among the mists of antiquity ; and cannot read the page of an 
ideal history ; still we have always had a richer and more generous 
inheritance — -we have ever had the presence of the spirit of freedom to 
inspire to noble exertions, and the genius of liberty to animate, to 
elevate, and protect. And under this moulding influence, our charac- 
ter has been formed, our greatness has been achieved. Inured from 
the beginning to independent effort — finding it necessary to originate 
with our own heads, and produce with our hands, American in- 
genuity, American enterprise, and American success have become 
proverbial in the world. Like the child whose nursery is the broad 
canopy which nature has stretched over him, whose breath has been 
the pure air of heaven, and whose earliest associations are blended 
with the mountain cliff, the majestic forest and the beating storm, we 
have early reached a manhood of physical and mental energy, never 
attained in so short a period, by any other nation on the globe. Let, 
then, this native energy of character be fostered ; give it scope for its 
fullest developments ; furnish ample appliances for the largest expansion 
of American genius, and you will have occasion to record still greater 
achievements than those of having built the fleetest vessels, manufac- 
tured the best ploughs, constructed the safest locks, and made the 
sharpest reapers in the world. 

Were our government like some of the governments of the old world, 
this important feature of national character would be of little worth, 
for it would be so effectually checked, that we must despair of any 
decided advancement — of any permanent improvement. But we have 
a government whose philosophy is entirely new, the foundation princi- 
ple of which is freedom of opinion. It furnishes the most ample encour- 
agement and protection to free inquiry ; it invites to unlimited investi- 
gation ; its motto is, there is nothing that may not be examined ; and 
no dungeon is prepared for him, — no torture awaits him who acts in 
obedience to this law of nature, and of Grod. Let the national intellect 
be cultivated and disciplined And thus, in the unrestrained collision of 
mind with mind, in the free conflict of thought, in the unembarrassed 
struggle of opinion with opinion, those great truths will yet be elicited 



ALBANY UNIVERSITY. 27 

that will shed an ever brightening radiance along the path that conducts 
to the highest elevation of national greatness and glory. 

But again : Let us look at the physical resources of our country, and 
see whether we will not discover still another demand for a National 
University. Who is able to form any estimate of our agricultural or 
mineral resources ? Possessing unoccupied territories, in almost every 
variety of climate, and capable of furnishing an endless variety of food 
for the sustenance of animal life, our country is able to support an 
extent of population, of which we have as yet formed no adequate con- 
ception. Who can compute the extent of our mineral wealth ? We 
have literally exhaustless mines of iron, copper, silver and gold, with 
equally exhaustless beds of coal lying in juxtaposition, and nothing 
necessary but moderate labor and skill to make them available to all the 
useful purposes of life. Almost every point of our country is accessible 
by ocean, lake, river, or canal navigation; or capable of being reached 
by the railcar, so that its varied productions can reach a market at the 
very moment they are prepared for use. It can not be denied, that we 
have resources in this land, more extensive and more enduring than are 
to be found in any other. We have advantages for moral, intellectual, 
and political greatness, such as are enjoyed by no other nation on earth. 
Nature has operated here on a larger scale, and seems to have contem- 
plated a corresponding development of American mind. She appears - 
here in a more magnificent garb than in any other portion of the earth. 
There is a vastness and a freshness in her works, fitted to expand the 
intellect, to exalt it with sublime conception, and to invite its profound 
research ; it is indeed a " new world," where nature seems to have made 
her grandest efforts, and furnished a theatre for mental achievement 
commensurate with the utmost capabilities of the human mind ; and in 
order to the just improvement of these advantages, and the appropriate 
development of these resources, the intellect of the country must be 
educated and enlarged, and every department of science and art must 
be assiduously cultivated. Every passing generation is loudly chal- 
lenged to yield its quota of potent energy to that tide of moral and 
intellectual influence, that is to waft us onward to a great and glorious 
destiny. 

And now the question is, shall these demands be met ? Shall we 
establish an institution that will meet the wants of the country and the 



28 ALBANY UNIVERSITY. 



age ? A democratic institution, that will throw open its doors to all 
classes and conditions among us — to the poor as well as to the rich — 
that will bestow the garlands of its praise upon the deserving, irrespec- 
tive of the accidental distinctions of life ? Shall we say to the young 
men throughout the land thirsting for knowledge, you shall no longer 
suffer disappointment — "Come, for all things are ready?" Shall the 
State of New- York secure the honor of being first in making this 
proclamation ? Shall this intellectual Mont Blanc be rendered accessible 
to our children, and our childrens' children? Shall we at one of the 
angles of its base — at the capital of the Empire State — bring together 
those intellectual guides who are so eminently qualified to point the 
traveler to the summit and lead the way ? Do it, sir, and you will have 
accomplished a noble work, you will have met the imperious demands 
of the period in which we live, and the necessities of the country of our 
pride and our love. 

We have one of these* guides present with us this evening. Others 
visited us a few weeks since. We have looked upon them, we have 
heard them, and heard of them, and we know them to be adequate to 
the great work in which so many are anxious to have them engage. I 
am glad, sir, that we have, as I trust, established Prof. Mitchell in 
this city. And I assure you, that I feel no small degree of pleasure in 
referring to one, to whom I am permitted to sustain an honorable rela- 
tion — as mainly instrumental in securing the services of the gentleman 
to whom I have just alluded. She has contributed largely, nobly, to 
found the department of astronomy in the University of Albany. The 
name of Dudley has long been known, and as long cherished in this city 
and in this State. It is connected with the highest official honors our 
city could confer, and has its place on the records of the highest councils 
of the nation ; and the Dudley Observatory will long continue a noble 
monument, to perpetuate alike the munificence of the living, and the 
cherished name and memory of the dead. By this endowment, the 
first astronomer in the country is brought to Albany ; but he should 
not be permitted to labor here alone. I know, indeed, that he will be 
conspicuous any where — will shine in the deepest solitude as a star of 
the first magnitude. But other orbs should be fixed in the same sphere, 

* Professor Mitchell. 



ALBANY UNIVERSITY. 29 



that their blended radiance may shed forth the splendors of a glorious 
constellation. 

Bring together these guides at the foot of this intellectual eminence, 
and travelers will be found flocking to them from all parts of the 
country, and from every quarter of the world. And then shall be sung 
of the University of Albany, as one of the noblest of God's works in 
the material world : 

" Mont Blanc is the monarch of mountains : 
They crowned hira long ago ; 
On a throne of rock, in a robe of cloud. 
With a diadem of snow." 



SPEECH 



REV. RAY PALMER, 



IN BEHALF OF THE 



UNIVERSITY OF ALBANY. 



The Rev. Rat Palmer, of Albany, was called on for some remarks ; 
and on rising, said — that he felt the disadvantage of being obliged to 
follow Prof. Mitchell, whose eloquent address had so deeply interested 
the house. But, said he, there is so much of impressiveness and interest 
in the great idea which the occasion brings before us, that it is difficult 
for one to hold his peace. The proposal to establish such an institution 
which has been sketched in outline, is fitted to seize the attention of 
every man of liberal tastes at once ; to stir the enthusiasm of all who 
have enlargement of mind enough to enable them to appreciate the 
worth of knowledge. It is doubtless to be expected that there will be 
some who cannot comprehend the bearings of the subject, and with 
whom it will find but little sympathy or favor; but that any really 
enlightened and large minded man can fail to be impressed with its 
immense importance, must be taken to be impossible. 

It is worth our while to notice, particularly, the seasonableness of 
the present movement. There are many reasons for believing that it 
has started at just the right period in order to succeed. It has, for 
some time, been apparent, that the want of facilities for scientific study, 
was beginning to be widely felt. Our older colleges have been doing 
all they could, consistently with the elementary character of the course 
of study to which they are obliged to limit themselves, to meet this want. 
Some of them, as for example Yale and Harvard, have established special 
departments for the purpose of teaching the higher branches, and also 



ALBANY UNIVERSITY. 31 



the practical applications of some particular sciences ; and one, at least, 
has been entirely revolutionized, with a view to the extension of its 
range of instruction. But I believe it is the general opinion, that these 
experiments promise, at most, but a partial success. The truth is, the 
present allowance of time, for college residence, forbids the attempt to 
accomplish much more than a mere commencement of such an education, 
in many of the sciences, as is needed to qualify for professional emi- 
nence, or even for the emergencies of practical life, in the present 
condition of our country. It is plain, therefore, that the time has come 
when, not another college for ordinary academic education, but a genuine 
school of science, far more elevated in its aims and means, should be 
established. The want has been distinctly recognised ; it has not yet 
been met ; it is becoming every day more urgent. 

Now, just as our country has advanced so far that men are needed, 
who would creditably fill the places of instruction in such a University 
as that proposed, a number nearly or quite sufficient have been found. 
Ten years ago, it would have been impossible to find them. Ten 
years hence, the demand for the labors of such men may have 
become so great that their services could not be commanded for such an 
enterprise. It is certainly remarkable, that such men as Agassiz, 
Pierce, Guyot and Mitchell, with the other distinguished gentlemen 
who have encouraged us to expect their aid, should all, as it were with 
one accord, stand ready at the present moment to assist in building up 
here a national institution such as is desired. It seems as if a special 
Providence has thrown them in our way. If we fail to seize the 
treasure when it is thus within our reach, we shall lose it irrecoverably, 
and we shall deserve the loss we suffer. Others will be sure to profit 
by our folly. I say, then, that we are moving at a most seasonable 
moment. 

In the establishment of a Universiy, on the plan proposed, there are 
two general objects which it will be intended to accomplish The first 
is the advancement of Science itself; the enlargement of its boundaries 
by new discoveries. It is to be anticipated as a thing of course, that a 
body of such men as will be here associated, and furnished with means 
and opportunities for prosecuting their inquiries, will distinguish them- 
selves and do honor to our country, by bringing to light new facts and 
principles, and so making positive additions to the useful knowledge of 



32 ALBANY UNIVERSITY. 



the world. , Why should they not ? What do our men of science need 
but the incitements and advantages which such a field of labor would afford 
them, to urge them on to do whatever it lies within the power of genius 
and application to achieve ? On this point, probably, there will no 
doubt arise. 

The second object of our institution is to be the practical application 
of scientific knowledge to all the purposes of life. And here we meet a 
difficulty in the minds of some. There are those who are under an 
impression that science is something for the closet, and that scientific 
men cannot be practical men, by any possibility. Nothing can be more 
at war with facts than this idea. The truth is, that science is essentially 
practical, in its very nature. For what else is true science, but a 
knowledge of facts — a knowledge of the real constitution, relations and 
capabilities of things ? How can it possibly be true, that the more 
thoroughly a man knows the nature of the materials on which he is to 
act, and of the instruments by which he is to produce results, the less 
competent he is to do any thing successfully ? Such an opinion is so 
absurd, that one would hardly know how to characterize a person who 
should seriously maintain it. As if a man blind-folded and groping in 
the dark, were more likely to give his efforts a right direction than one 
whose eyes were open in the clear light of day ! 

And as regards scientific men and their labors, we appeal to the 
history of both. Where can men be found whose labors have more 
effectually reached with incalculable benefits every walk of common 
life, than Kepler, Galilleo, Newton, Laplace and Bowditch? What 
have not chemistry, mineralogy and geology done for agriculture, for 
the arts, for the comfort and aggrandizement of society ? What single 
science is there which has been cultivated with success, which has not 
poured its tributary stream into the life-giving current which has carried 
good to all parts of the social system? What eminent discoverer in 
the fields of scientific observation has not most obviously been a bene- 
factor of his race ? It is altogether a shallow view of the matter, to 
suppose that he is the most practical man who is always talking about, 
or talking to, the masses ; it is he, rather, who most effectually reaches 
them with solid benefits resulting from his labors, that is entitled to be 
so regarded, although he spends the greater part of his life in solitary 
studies. 



ALBANY UNIVERSITY. 33 

Allusion has been made to the Universities of Europe. How come 
it that they are now so rich in all the facilities for study, and in the 
fruits of learned investigation ? It is because that hundreds of years 
ago, a work was done like that which we now propose to do. The 
University of Paris originated so far back as the twelfth century, in the 
popular impulse towards learning produced by the lectures of Peter 
Abelard and others. In the fifteenth century it is said to have had 
thirty thousand students; and special provision was made for their 
boarding and lodging in the most economical manner. Oxford, even in 
the thirteenth, the authorities tell us, had a similar number. Bologna 
was but little if any behind these, at an early period. Imagine, now, 
the thousands of young men going from every part of Europe to these 
and similar institutions, and there being brought into contact with men 
of liberal culture, attending on their instructions and catching their 
enthusiasm ; and then returning to their homes to mingle with all 
classes, and to make their influence felt in every walk of life. Will 
any body doubt that each of them, who in any good degree improved 
his opportunities, must have become a centre of light in those dark 
times? and that the result of their united influence on society must 
have been eminently salutary, helping to bring in the morning of a 
higher and a happier civilization? It is not to be questioned for a 
moment. 

So it must be always, from the nature of the case. So it will be 
here. You wish to distribute water through all parts of a city. How 
do you accomplish it ? You construct a reservoir ; and you are careful 
to make it large enough to afford an adequate supply, and high enough 
to give the requisite momentum ; and then you lay your pipes, and it 
flows wherever you desire it. It is proposed to do just this in establish- 
ing here a University. This is to be an ample fountain of sound 
knowledge, so copious, and so elevated, that it is ready to send its 
fertilizing streams to every part of our population. Your students, 
going out from year to year, will be the conduits through which shall 
be carried to every corner, not only of our State, but abroad over the 
whole country, the living waters. It is impossible that inestimable 
practical benefits should not in this way be conferred on all. 

But can the State afford to do what is desired ? I would much rather 
ask another question. Can the State afford to lose so great advantages, 

5 



84 ALBANY UNIVERSITY. 

when easily within her reach ? Can she afford to leave to be appropriated 
by some other State, so many practical benefits, and so much of a dis- 
tinction? We talk sometimes about the illiberality of the arbitrary 
governments of Europe, and accuse them of indifference to what relates 
to the improvement of the people ; but in some of these things, they 
set us an example worthy of imitation by our governments. Under the 
government of Louis Philippe, in France, for example, there was an 
annual exhibition of the best paintings produced by living artists. A 
committee appointed for the purpose decided on their merits ; and the 
artist whose work was pronounced most meritorious, was sent abroad 
for three years' study, all his expenses being paid out of the public 
treasury. And shall our own governments, whose glory, nay, whose 
stable existence, depends on the general cultivation, the sound intelli- 
gence of the people, be so short sighted as to withhold such liberality 
when it is needed ? There certainly is reason to pity the littleness of 
the man who is himself so destitute of true intellectual enlargement, as 
not to feel the claims of such an enterprise as that which we are now 
discussing, to all the assistance requisite to its success. 

Let us go forward a little in our thoughts. Suppose that we now act 
wisely, and place the proposed University on a sure and liberal footing ; 
and then that it goes on to yield its rich and precious fruits for a couple 
of centuries, sending abroad throughout the country its hundreds and 
thousands of students, and fulfilling properly its high mission. What 
will it not in that time have accomplished for mankind ! What an 
interest will gather around these steps which we now are taking, as 
those who will then live shall look back upon them from that position ! 
Be sure that they will do homage to the names of those who are fore- 
most in the work ; and to them, as the greatest benefactors, they will 
pay the offerings of a hearty and an affectionate gratitude. 



EXTRACTS 



FItOM THE 



SPEECH OF HON. AZOR TABER, 

Made in the Senate of Mew-York, March 15, in 

Reply to Senator Pierce, on the Colonization 

and College Appropriation Bills. 



What is asked of this Legislature, is aid in establishing a Univer- 
sity — not in name merely, but in character — one like those which 
abound in Europe, but which, to our shame be it spoken, have hitherto 
been a desideratum in this country — one which shall fit the learner for 
his chosen pursuit, by completing his education in special reference to 
his particular profession, art or calling. 

Our Common School system is an honor to this State and an example 
to others. Our Normal School, Academies and Colleges (for these latter 
are no more than colleges, whatever name they may assume) perform, 
sufficiently well, all that they promise — all for which they were designed. 
But they teach, for the most part, abstract science only, which is wholly 
inadequate to the wants of a peculiarly enterprising people, in an 
eminently practical age. The colleges and the spirit of the age have 
parted company. The great mass of the talent of this country is 
uneducated, because it cannot find here the means of being educated to 
usefulness. Send your son, Mr. Chairman, to any one of our colleges, 
with its scanty allowance of qualified professors, and its extended circle 
of studies which are essential to a collegiate degree, and be not surprised 
if he returns with a diploma, which, whatever it may express, does not 
truly import that he is fitted for a single practical duty of life. He 
may be able to extract Greek roots, but knows nothing of the aids of 
modern science in causing large and profitable roots to grow to the tops 
of esculent vegetables. He may have learned the nomenclature of 



86 ALBANY UNIVERSITY. 



chemistry, but will know nothing of its application to agriculture and 
the arts. Deem yourself fortunate if he has fathomed the difference 
between an acid and alkali, and can explain the phenomena exhibited 
by a tumbler of pearlash and cider. He may be familiar with the 
technicals of trigonometry and mensuration, but can no more survey, 
and calculate the contents of a farm, than he could create one. If you 
intend that he shall enjoy the utmost attainable advantages of education, 
you must send him to Europe, to a foreign land, away from the watchful 
care of family and friends, to be exposed to the influence of manners, 
morals and political principles, more or less corrupting ; and to return, 
in all probability, half cockney and half monarchist, to the discharge of 
the earnest duties of a republican citizen. 

The pernicious error of the ancient schools of philosophy, that science 
should busy itself with abstract thoughts and not with deeds, and was 
degraded by becoming useful, has been eradicated from the community 
by the pervading genius of Lord Bacon, and the spirit of the age ; but 
it still lingers among the fixed habits of our higher institutions of 
learning. What cares an American parent whether his son has a 
smattering of the dead languages to be directly forgotten ? has some, 
knowledge of Caesar's campaigns, of Virgil's and Homer's metre, and 
of unapplied triangles andhypothenuses,if he is to be outstripped in the 
race of emulation by one who knows nothing of all these things ? He 
grudges the contribution of his own substance, and his son's more 
precious time, to a system of education which stops short of utility. 
Hence our colleges are neglected and fall into hopeless decline, and our 
people are more and more exposed to the reproach of being uneducated 
in all the higher walks of science. Where are the Hamiltons, the 
Livingstons, the Clintons, the Spencers, the Emmets, of other days ? 
They are no where to be found amongst us. The pursuits in which they 
were engaged have lost their hold on public attention. Their successors 
and compeers in intellect are engaged in widely different employments,- — 
in the multiplied products of invention, and in adapting the wonders of 
applied science to the practical affairs and benefit of mankind ; pursuits, 
let it be remembered, in which they are left to grope their way in com- 
parative darkness, because there is no institution in this land, which 
affords the means of appropriate and adequate instruction. Our Ameri- 
can inventors, unequalled in ingenuity, are left to waste their time and 



ALBANY UNIVERSITY. 37 



strength upon subjects, which a proper education in mechanics would 
have shown them had been already invented or exploded. In like 
manner those who construct and manage the wonderful and mighty 
agencies, contributed by science to annihilate time and space, supersede 
human labor, and increase our wealth, must first pay tribute to the 
Universities and workshops of Europe. Even the all-pervading opera- 
tions of agriculture, and the mechanical trades, in this country, are 
conducted in comparative darkness and imperfection, for the want of 
scientific instruction. 

Now, Sir, these things ought not so to be. The remedy proposed is 
the establishment of a University of our own, in which shall be taught 
and exemplified, all knowledge which has hitherto been attained by 
man. It should have, and can obtain, an ample corps of professors, 
competent to teach, and unsurpassed in their attainments, in every 
department. No expensive and imposing buildings are required for its 
reception ; for science, like its Almighty Author, " dwells not in temples 
made with hands." An astronomical observatory, the only indispen- 
sable structure, with all its instruments and furniture, has already 
been provided for, by the liberality of citizens of Albany. Rooms 
sufficient and convenient for all other purposes, can be supplied in this 
city, or any other in which the Legislature may direct its operations to 
be conducted. No endowment of professorships is either asked for 
or desired. These, we believe to be, for the most part, a detriment 
and a curse to such an institution any where ; and peculiarly unfitted to 
our republican habits and the genius of our people. Let those who 
teach in a university, like those who follow any other calling, be furnished 
with suitable rooms, which are their work-shops, apparatus which 
constitute the tools of their trade, young minds as the subjects on 
which their skill is to be exerted, and then let their fame and emolu- 
ment depend on their own efforts. A better and richer field for both, 
can no where be found, than a university in this country, conducted 
upon proper principles. It should offer instruction to all, upon one 
subject or several, for a single term or a full course, as the inclination 
or means of a student may allow, and furnish to each a diploma, 
expressing his actual attainments. It would thus contribute directly to 
the elevation and emolument of its graduates, each in his particular 
business or profession, whether as a farmer, a mechanic, a physician a 



38 ALBANY UNIVERSITT. 



lawyer, an architect, an engineer, a miner, an inventor, or in whatever 
capacity he may have received instruction. Its teachings would be of 
immediate value to their recipients, would be eagerly sought, and 
cheerfully paid for. It would draw students from this State not only, 
but ultimately, from the whole Union, and the whole continent. 

It would neither supersede nor injure existing academies and colleges ; 
but by its post-graduate courses, would impart value to their preliminary 
instructions. It would become the head, the cerebro spinal axis, so to 
speak, of their organization; sending nervous influence, sensation and 
motion through the whole system, and exciting all the parts to har- 
monious and energetic action. 

The time is propitious for this enterprise. At no previous period in 
our history could we have secured a body of professors, each eminent 
in his department, distinguished at home, and known and honored 
abroad, like those who are ready to embark, and whose hearts are in 
this undertaking. To some of them we have listened in these halls with 
interest and instruction, and all are awaiting our decision. Let but this 
opportunity pass, let it be seized by some wiser State, and it may never 
return. Ages will probably pass, before more than one such institution 
should, or can be organized and sustained in this country. 

The place is well chosen. It is Albany ; not from any merely local 
interest or motive, but because it happens to be the Capital of this great 
State, which has already accomplished so much for the cause of educa- 
tion, and has the power, with but a slight effort, to complete what it 
has so successfully begun. It is, as it should be, in the opening of the 
Allegany ridges, through which so large a portion of this nation pass to 
and from the Atlantic sea-board. It should be near that sea-board, 
whence social and educational influences extend so rapidly and ener- 
getically to the interior States, while their return is slow and feeble. 
Such an institution there, would affect us but slightly; while one 
planted here, would pervade with its influence the innumerable popula- 
tion destined ere long to inhabit the great basin of the Mississippi and 
its tributaries ; and by a progress different but equally certain, the 
inhabitants of the rising States upon our Pacific coast. "Westward" 
the reign of science, like " the star of empire, takes its way." 

One word, Mr. Chairman, as to what has already been done. The 
University is incorporated. A college of medicine, for years in success- 



ALBANY UNIVERSITY. 39 

ful operation, is ready to unite and become one of its departments. A 
department of law is organized, and placed under the charge of able and 
distinguished professors ; and is giving instruction, so much needed in 
the transition state of our legal practice, to a respectable class of students. 
A department of theology, which would be so certain to introduce the 
distracting element of sectarian differences, is wholly excluded from the 
design. Several eminent professors in the scientific departments, are 
now delivering lectures, on subjects of practical importance, especially 
that of 'agricultural chemistry. Suitable rooms and apparatus are at 
hand, or will be supplied, and as perfect an astronomical observatory as 
any on the globe, the entire expense of which is already contributed by 
private liberality. All this has been brought about by the untiring 
efforts of individuals, whom I may not now name, but who will one day 
be known and duly honored, for their noble efforts in this great cause. 
Its main reliance is now upon the character of those chosen as profes- 
sors, who are not only conspicuous before the world for learning and 
abilities, but are ardent, energetic, practical men, distinguished for the 
great quality which is in all cases indispensible to success — i?itrepidily 
in action. 

What, then, is asked of the State ? I answer, first, its sanction, its 
character, its countenance, in this great undertaking. The next, and 
only remaining request, is believed to be in entire consistency with the 
position assumed by the University as a self-sustaining institution. In 
its comparatively feeble beginning, it applies to the State, as it might 
honorably apply to any parent, to furnish pupils to be instructed, and 
to pay a just compensation for the tuition which they receive. The 
bill before us provides, that one such pupil shall be selected by each 
Senator and member of Assembly from his own district, whose tuition 
fees, when earned, and not before, shall be paid by the State. Each 
legislator would thus have the scholar chosen by him under his personal 
observation during the winter, and could judge whether the instruction 
imparted was equal in value to the expense ; if not, the remedy is at 
hand, for the act provides that it may at any time be repealed by the 
Legislature. These tuition fees are to be paid by the State during 
each of the next two years, in consideration of which, each pupil is 
entitled to gratuitous instruction at the University for the two suc- 
ceedingyears ; a period sufficient to complete an entire course intheUni- 



40 ALBANY UNIVERSITY. 



versity. It is believed that sending abroad one hundred and sixty men, 
highly educated in every department of usefulness, will he an ample 
return to the State, in honor and advantage, for the assistance received. 

But it may be said, this will cost sixteen thousand dollars this year, 
and a like sum the next ; and will enure to the benefit of Albany, 
which has advantages enough already. I know, Mr. Chairman, that 
it has ; ometimes been said, and probably believed, that Albany was a 
stereotype Dutch city, destitute of liberality, enterprise and public 
spirit. Now, Sir, I must claim once more to be indulged in a few 
remarks in vindication of my immediate constituents and neighbors. I 
aver that this ancient Dutch city abounds with as generous hearts, as 
open and liberal hands, and minds as earnestly engaged in enter- 
prises for the advancement of the best interests of the whole com- 
munity, as are to be found elsewhere upon earth. Its inhabitants 
neither advise nor solicit any degree of generosity which they are not 
prompt and willing to practice. 

Let me attempt to prove this by an example. This great State is 
both rich and generous. I have taken some pains to ascertain what 
sums she gave away, during the last year — not in the distribution of 
the income of any of her permanent funds, but from her general fund, 
corresponding with the annual income of an individual. That sum, as 
nearly as I can ascertain, was $132,750. Now, the citizens of Albany, 
within the same period, irrespective of the innumerable claims for 
local and temporary charities, freely gave, and bound themselves to 
give, to the object now under consideration, and other specific objects 
here and elsewhere, which promised no pecuniary return to the donors, 
about the sum of $125,000. This approaches nearly to the whole volun- 
tary bounty of the State, and would be equal, in proportion, to about a 
million and a quarter by New- York, and nearly half a million by Brooklyn; 
and when these or any other cities shall have done more, we will 
endeavor to show that the pecuniary means and liberality of this 
favored metropolis, are not exhausted. I must add, in justice, that the 
largest and most liberal of these donations were made by Dutch citizens, 
of the ancient stamp, and of the full blood. Albany deserves not such 
a reproach. But were it otherwise, the interest or detriment of a 
single city, in an object of such vast and general importance, is wholly 
unworthy of regard. 



ALBANY UNIVERSITY. 41 

Thus much, Mr. Chairman, in support of the bill under considera- 
tion, and in behalf of my constituents and other friends of the measure 
which it embodies. Now, sir, one word more for myself, and my own 
individual views. I am not a politician. My hopes, and fears, and 
aspirations lie not in that direction. I was nominated and elected to this 
Senate while confined by sickness, without any agency or procurement 
of my own, and for reasons even now better known to my constituents 
than to me. This error, which they never committed before, they will 
probably not repeat. But were this otherwise, let me say to my friend 
the Senator from the 10th, that were I intent on political advancement, 
and desirous of commending myself to popular favor, I would take the 
direct opposite of the position he assumes on this question. I would 
advocate this measure not only, but insist on its being carried out to its 
full results. I would insist that the board and expenses of the pupils, 
as well as their tuition, should be paid by the State ; and the proposed 
benefits thus extended, to those unable to meet even the smallest expense. 
I would have the objects of the public bounty selected by persons chosen 
by a vote in the districts, that it might be extended equally to the highest 
talent and merit, whether found in a freestone palace or a tenement of 
logs. I would humble the aristocracy of mere wealth, by elevating 
the more dignified and potent aristocracy of cultivated intellect. For 
all this, I would appeal to the liberality of the State, whose treasury, 
whatever may be said to the contrary, is in a prosperous condition, and 
whose assessment rolls exhibit an aggregate of more than eleven 
hundred millions of property ; and show, that if this object could be 
attained only by taxation, which is not true, a rich man's proportion of 
the requisite tax, would be the merest trifle, and that of a poor man 
inappreciable. I would rest confidently on the intelligence of the 
people to sustain a measure calculated to exalt the intellectual character 
of the State, even at the expense of a trivial tax upon its abounding 

wealth. 

######## 

Permit me, in conclusion, to refer to a familiar incident not in- 
appropriate to the occasion. It relates to a Roman matron to whom a 
neighboring lady was exhibiting her gems and personal ornaments ; and 
knowing that matron to be the daughter of the illustrious Scipio 
Africanus, and the widow of a distinguished consul, supposed she had a 

6 



42 ALBANY UNIVERSITY. 



rich store of such ornaments, (as in truth she had,) and desired her to 
show them. "These," replied the matron, pointing to two noble boys, 
whose manly countenances beamed with intelligence — "These are my 
jewels." For the sake of those her sons and pupils, Rome reared a 
monument to her memory ; and her reply, which never fails to awaken 
a response in the heart, became immortal. that my native State 
were more deeply imbued with the spirit of the mother of the Gracchi ! 
— that pausing for a brief space in her absorbing pursuit of material 
wealth, she would strive also after the richer treasures, the nobler pre- 
eminence, of cultivated mind! Would that her abounding gems of 
intellect were raised from the dust and rubbish of their native mines, 
and wrought and polished in Ihe institution we seek to establish, to 
sparkle ivith matchless rays, in the diadem of the Empire State. 



[From the N. Y. Courier & Enquirer, March 30.] 

'UNIVERSITY OF ALBANY. 

We have attained a point in our development from which the next 
step must be to the establishment of great institutions of learning ; 
institutions so largely planned that they may now and hereafter minister 
effectually and worthily to the great needs of a people whose powers and 
whose position are without a parallel in the history of the race ; a peo- 
ple which has done more for the world in a shorter lapse of time, than 
is recorded of any other since there were deeds to write and historians 
to write them ; and which yet stands, as it were, but on the vantage 
ground for the actual commencement of its grand and inevitably success- 
ful struggle for an eminence which will dwarf the memories of glory 
which lift themselves above the ruins of by-gone ages. Such institutions 
must sooner or later exist, from the mere gathering together by natural 
affinity of the eminent men who have sprung in native strength from our 
own scarce cultivated mental soil, or whom our great and remunerating 
needs have transplanted to our shores from the time-honored nurseries 
of learning in other countries. Such men in all ages of the world have 
come together, and such in this age cannot be, either alone or united, 



ALBANY UNIVERSITY. 43 



without the endeavor to teach to others that which they know them- 
selves, or at least the best method of acquiring it ; and such teachings by 
a body of such men, learned in all the various departments of knowledge, 
make a University. No place for such instruction now exists in this 
country. It is true, we have the needful opportunities for education ; 
for that, as Hooker says, is the means "to make by use our natural 
faculty of reason both the better and the sooner to judge rightly between 
truth and error, good and evil." Education is, in fact, the teaching how 
to learn. But after we have made this great and indispensable acquire- 
ment, we still lack the place in which each man thus educated for the 
task can pursue to the best advantage that special department of know- 
ledge in which he has chosen to labor, " to its extremist limits." All 
exertion of this kind must now be unassisted by the instructions of 
those who have toiled over the same path, unstimulated by rivalry with 
those who are striving for the same goal. And here is a great need 
which demands a great remedy. 

That remedy is supplied by the well considered features of the pre- 
sent plan. Its principal features cannot be more clearly and suscinctly 
stated than in that speech, and we will only mention here one of its 
provisions, which is in truth its life, the very condition of its being ; 
that is, the sending of one pupil from each Assembly district in the 
State to pursue their studies at the University, at the expense of the 
tState ; these State scholarships being the prize to be contended for in 
public competition by all the youth in each district, judgment being 
passed by examiners elected by the people themselves. This provision 
of itself should, and in the end must, ensure the establishment of the 
projected State University. It makes every school house an arena of 
honorable strife, every school-boy the possible hero in an intellectual 
conflict, in which those who are nearest and dearest to him watch and 
cheer his efforts ; and the prize has to its own intrinsic merit added the 
dazzling charm that it is bestowed by a Sovereign State. It gives to 
every father, every mother, however humble their lot, a direct and 
personal interest in the greatest institution of learing in the land, and 
lights a student's lamp at every hearth within our borders. Its benefits 
do not stop with those to whom its honors are directly awarded. There 
they but begin ; behind the successful competitor, when he leaves for 
the honored place which he has won, remain crowds of others, of whom 



44 ALBANY UNIVERSITY. 



he is but the best, and who will soon swarm after hhn to renew the 
contest, perhaps victoriously, upon the very ground which he has 
gained. 

These one hundred and twenty-eight pupils upon State scholarships 
will of course be but the nucleus round which will gather a great body 
of students from all parts of the State, and from every extreme of the 
land. The great Universities of the old world count their students by 
hundreds. Decaying Padua has fourteen hundred, and Pavia, nodding 
over her accumulated lore, as many more; and why should we in the 
fulness of our resources and the pride of our strength, number less ? 

How many Heidelberg and Leyden gather within their toga'd arms 
we do not remember ; but there is an army at each who call it 
" mother," — and an army, be it remembered, which always is ranked, 
and always, through ages past, has fought on the side of liberty against 
oppression. There is no greater or more mischievous error than the 
doctrine taught by some that learning sustains despotism and thrives 
best under it. In knowledge, enlightened liberty finds her truest and 
most powerful ally, and, as a consequence, unbridled license her deadliest 
foe. 

The subject leads beyond the limits of our time and space; but we 
cannot leave it without asking our readers to look forward with us to 
the influence for good, for advancement in all that elevates the life of 
man and bestows upon it the purest and greatest happiness, which the 
assembling together of twenty such men as Agassiz, Mitchell, 
Dana, Pierce, Gould, Guyot, and co-laborers worthy of them, 
would exert upon the whole people, through the hundreds of pupils 
who would crowd to their teachings yearly. Fifteen such must be 
established in professorial chairs before the projected law allows the 
sending of the State pupils ; and with the founding of these fifteen 
professorships a great University, a body which heretofore it has taken 
ages to form, springs instantly into being. It is born at once, like a 
great thought ; at once, though the years before have borne its germ 
within their teeming bosom, and it sees the light because its full time 
has come. Once born, such a thought never dies; and this will not, for 
it will find recognition and welcome in the breast of every right thinking 
man who has a son to live after him. 



LofC. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



020 773 459 7 



